The present invention relates to a stripper for removing a portion of covering from the end of covered electric wire, more particularly to improvements in the hand-operated stripper for stripping the ends of electric wires ranging from covered wires such as polyvinyl chloride wires having small diameters and used only as lead wires to those having large diameters such as cabtyre cords insulated with polyvinyl chloride.
To connect together covered electric wires such as cabtyre cords having a large diameter, it is generally necessary to remove a portion of insulation covering the conductor and a part of sheath covering the insulation in a stepwise fashion or individually. Thus a desired length of wire is stripped by cutting the sheath to remove the sheath first and then the insulation of rubber, vinyl chloride or the like is incised and removed to expose part of the conductor. Conventionally, such stripping work is usually done by cutting the covering with a knife or nipper little by little, this resulting in low efficiency and an unsightly cut end and making it very likely that the conductor itself will be damaged and cut. Accordingly, the work requires much experience. To overcome such drawbacks, stripping tools have already been provided and put to use as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,516,307, 3,515,018, 3,538,796, etc. However, these known devices include many parts to be adjusted and are complex in construction and difficult to handle in the wiring site. In fact, in the case where a major portion of covered wire is embbeded for example in the wall with only a part thereof left exposed therefrom for stripping, it is substantiallly difficult to strip the short exposed portion. Although the conventional devices may be adapted to strip covered wires of a small diameter such as polyvinyl chloride wire, it is impossible for them to strip a cabtyre cord or like covered wire of a large diameter. Moreover, many of them are expensive to make and prone to failures.